Onstage This Week: Houston Ballet Tours to Dubai, San Francisco Ballet at the Kennedy Center, World Premieres in Memphis and More!

San Francisco Ballet is bringing six works from their Unbound: A Festival of New Works to The Kennedy Center this week. Here, dancers are pictured in Christopher Wheeldon's Bound To. Photo by Erik Tomasson, Courtesy The Kennedy Center.

Wonder what's going on in ballet this week? We've pulled together some highlights.

Houston Ballet Tours to Dubai

This week Houston Ballet heads a little farther afield than usual. October 24-27 the company tours to Dubai, making them the first American ballet company to perform at the Dubai Opera House. The company is bringing a classic to the Middle Eastern city: artistic director Stanton Welch's Swan Lake. Catch principals Yuriko Kajiya and Chun Wai Chan in this clip from the Black Swan Pas De Deux.

Jerome Robbins' Experimental Full-Length Ballet Returns to the Stage

Jerome Robbins' centennial year has included performances of some of the famed choreographer's most seminal works at companies around the world. October 24-27, the Brooklyn Academy of Music digs deeper into Robbins' oeuvre by presenting Watermill, a full-length experimental ballet inspired by Japanese Noh theater that hasn't been staged in nearly half a century. Watermill stars former New York City Ballet principal Joaquin De Luz, who retired from the company just two weeks ago.

San Francisco Ballet Brings 6 East Coast Premieres to the Kennedy Center

Last spring, San Francisco Ballet wowed Bay Area audiences with Unbound: A Festival of New Works. Now SFB is bringing six of the festival's ballets to The Kennedy Center October 23-28, marking their East Coast premieres. Program A includes ballets by Trey McIntyre, Christopher Wheeldon and David Dawson, and Program B features pieces by Edwaard Liang, Cathy Marston and Justin Peck.

Ballet Memphis Collaborates with Local Musicians to Present 2 World Premieres

October 26-November 4 marks Ballet Memphis' inaugural Memphis Project, a brand new collaboration between the company and local musicians that honors the city's musical legacy. This program includes Trey McIntyre's reworked Memphis Suite to a score by a variety of artists, as well as twopremieres: former Alvin Ailey dancer Alia Kache's new work to an original score by Julien Baker, and associate artistic director Steven McMahon's new collaboration with the record label Unapologetic.

Sarasota Ballet opens their 2019 season October 26-28 with a diverse triple bill. The program features the company premiere of Martha Graham's iconic 1944 collaboration with composer Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring. Also on deck are Ricardo Graziano's Symphony of Sorrows and Galina Samsova's production of Paquita. Be transported into dance history with this early clip of the Martha Graham Dance Company performing Appalachian Spring, whichstars Graham herself as The Bride.

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre Bids Farewell to Principal Julia Erickson with All Mozart Program

Longtime Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre principal Julia Erickson retires from PBT this weekend during the company's Mozart in Motion program October 26-28. The program features three works spanning past to present, all to Mozart: George Balanchine's Divertimento No. 15 and Jiří Kylián's Sechs Tänze and Petite Mort. In the above video, Erickson discusses why these works are meaningful to her.

BalletMet Presents Short Ballets by Three New York-Based Choreographers

BalletMet's Lineage: A Collection of Short Ballets program runs October 26-November 3 and features three short works by New York choreographers originally created for New York City Ballet: George Balanchine's Square Dance, Christopher Wheeldon's romantic After the Rain pas de deux and Justin Peck's In Creases. Above, artistic director Edwaard Liang discusses After the Rain.

Story Ballets Galore!

Beasts, fairies, pirates... Halloween seems like the perfect time of the year for story ballets. This week, four companies bring back beloved classics. On the spookier side of things is Nevada Ballet Theatre's production of Ben Stevenson's Dracula, running October 25-28. Click through for more!

A white tulle dress, time travel, the Eiffel Tower at night... these elements come together in Until Midnight, a new dance film by Christopher Alexander of Zen Film Works. This eight-minute long vignette opens with Louise (played by Louise Schirmer), a former ballerina now living alone in old age. Through the delivery of a mysterious letter and a wristwatch from her past, she returns briefly to her youthful self, danced by former Washington Ballet dancer Brittany Cavaco. In a Cinderella-like twist, Louise has until midnight to find her beloved Jean Pierre (Sebastien Thill, former dancer with Paris Opera Ballet and Hamburg Ballet) for one last dance. According to Cavaco, all of the movement was improvised, created by herself and Alexander in each location.

"People have so much fear associated with arabesque turns," says Peter Boal, artistic director of Pacific Northwest Ballet. Here, he shares images and ideas to help you confidently master this advanced pirouette. "It's a real accomplishment when you can put it all together."

Hollywood may have the Oscars, but ballet has the Prix de Benois de la Danse. Held every spring at Moscow's Bolshoi Theater, the prestigious international awards ceremony recognizes dancers, choreographers, composers and designers for their extraordinary work on and off the stage. This year's laureates, chosen by a jury, were announced during an awards ceremony last night, followed by a star-studded gala featuring many of the nominated artists.

American Ballet Theatre principal James Whiteside is known for more than just his uber-charismatic presence on the ballet stage; He doubles as both the drag queen Ühu Betch and the pop star JbDubs. Whiteside's newest musical release, titled WTF, came out last week, and is for sure his most ballet-filled song to date. Both the lyrics and the choreography are jam-packed with bunhead references, from theRose Adagio to Haglund's Heel to a framed portrait of George Balanchine. Not to mention the fact that he and his four backup dancers (Matthew Poppe, Douane Gosa, Maxfield Haynes and Gianni Goffredo) absolutely kill it in pointe shoes.